Physically Nonlinear Deformation of a Long Orthotropic Cylindrical Shell with Elliptic Cross-Section

The stress–strain state of long cylindrical shells with elliptical cross-section is studied. The shells are made of a nonlinear elastic orthotropic organic plastic. To improve the convergence of the variational-difference method, a mixed functional with varying membrane deformation is applied. It is shown that allowance for physical nonlinearity of the composite results in a decrease of stresses and an increase of deflections and strains. Moreover, the dependence of hoop stresses in the nonlinear elastic shell on the properties of the material is revealed as distinct from the linear elastic shell.